⎯⎯ My Story
I didn't plan to build an empire. I planned to survive.
I'm Alexa Bigwarfe — author, publisher, entrepreneur, professor, and the person who figured out, completely by accident, that turning your story into something that helps other people is one of the most powerful things you can do with your life.
Columbia, SC · Author, Publisher, Accidental Entrepreneur
Before the Books
A woman with a plan.
A very different plan.
Before I was a publisher, before I was an author, before any of this — I was a woman with a very clear career trajectory that had nothing to do with books.
I worked in counter-terrorism and Homeland Security. I was building a career that felt purposeful and serious, the kind of work you do because the stakes actually matter. I was good at it. I liked it.
Then life shifted. I got married. My husband and I decided to start a family. I stepped away from that career to be home with my kids, which felt like the right choice at the time — and also felt, if I’m honest, like putting a very big part of myself on a shelf.
I didn’t know yet that stepping away from one chapter is almost always the beginning of another. I didn’t know that the most important work of my life was still ahead of me. I just knew that I loved my family, I missed having something that was mine, and I had no idea that a grief I hadn’t yet experienced would become the thing that handed it all back to me.
The chapter that
changed everything.
In May 2011, I found out we were expecting identical twins. We were thrilled. We were terrified. We were already imagining two of everything.
The joy didn’t last long. Doctors found that our babies were suffering from Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome—a rare and serious condition where twins sharing a placenta develop dangerous complications. We spent months in fear, going to appointments, watching monitors, willing things to go a different way. I spent a long time on bedrest in the hospital.
Our girls arrived 9.5 weeks early. Our daughter Kathryn lived two days before she passed away in the NICU. Thankfully our Tiny survived, but life would never be the same.
“I didn’t know what to do with that kind of pain. So I did the only thing that felt right. I wrote.”
I started a blog. Then another. I wrote about grief, about motherhood, about the strange experience of coming home from a hospital with one baby and a hole where the other one was supposed to be. I wasn’t writing for an audience—I was writing to keep myself intact.
But people found it. Other mothers who had been through similar losses found it. They reached out. They said: me too, me too, me too. And somewhere in the middle of all that reaching out, I had an idea.
What if I gathered their stories? What if instead of everyone writing alone in the dark, we put it all together into something that could find the mothers who needed it?
That idea became my first book: Sunshine After the Storm: A Survival Guide for the Grieving Mother. And that book changed everything.
The Accidental Entrepreneur
I didn’t mean to build
a publishing empire.
And then I did.
After Sunshine After the Storm, women started asking me how I did it. How did I compile an anthology? How did I find contributors? How did I actually publish a book? I answered every question. And then more questions came.
I started a nonprofit to support grieving mothers. I started coaching other women who wanted to write their stories. I learned everything I could about publishing — the traditional path, the self-publishing path, the hybrid model in between — because women kept coming to me and none of the existing options felt quite right for what they needed.
Eventually I asked myself an honest question: What do I actually love most about this work? The answer surprised me. It wasn’t the nonprofit, as meaningful as it was. It was the books. It was the business. It was the moment a woman realized her story could do something in the world.
So I pivoted. I launched Write|Publish|Sell, my publishing consultancy. I launched Kat Biggie Press — named for Kathryn, because her name deserved to be on something that would last. I eventually launched two more presses: Purple Butterfly Press for children’s books, and Chrysalis Press, because transformation is always the point.
I created the Women in Publishing Summit — now the largest virtual conference for women in publishing — because I kept seeing brilliant women getting locked out of an industry that should belong to everyone.
None of it was the plan. All of it made sense.
What I've Built
Six companies. Thousands of women reached. One daughter's name on all of it.
Write|Publish|Sell
My publishing consultancy, coaching platform, and home base for helping women turn their expertise into books and businesses.
Women in Publishing Summit
The largest virtual conference for women in publishing. Thousands of authors, publishers, editors, and professionals gather every year.
Kat Biggie Press
Named for Kathryn. Every book published here carries her legacy forward.
Purple Butterfly Press
A hybrid publishing house for children's books — because stories for kids matter too.
Chrysalis Press
A small traditional press. Every author who comes through is in the middle of becoming something.
WIP Society
A membership community for authors and publishing professionals who want connection, resources, and a place to belong while they build.
The Woman Behind the Work
There’s more to the story
than the resume.
I teach entrepreneurship as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina, which is still one of the more surreal parts of my life to say out loud — the accidental entrepreneur, teaching entrepreneurship.
I’m a USA Today bestselling author. I’ve written nonfiction, edited anthologies, and — because I apparently needed one more creative outlet — I also write contemporary romantic comedies set in Paris under the pen name Lexi Haddock. (The Paris Predicament won the Indies Today 2024 Best Romance Award and yes, I am very proud of it.)
I live in Columbia, South Carolina with my three teenage children and our dog, who is the most demanding member of the household. My kids are at the age where they’re simultaneously the best people I know and completely convinced I embarrass them. I consider this a success.
“Every turn along the way has been because I believe that all of us have a story worth telling — and there should be as few obstacles as possible to sharing it with the world.”
When I’m not working, I’m reading (obviously), dreaming about Paris, convincing my teenagers to watch movies with me, or trying to drag the dog on a walk he very clearly doesn’t want to take.
I won the 2025 Celine Aziz Legacy Award for my work elevating women’s voices in publishing. I’ve spoken at Digital Book World, IPNE, and the Self-Publishing Advice Conference. I host the Alexa’s Book Marketing & Publishing Chat podcast where I talk about all things books, publishing, and building something real from your words.
But the credential I’m most proud of? The thousands of women who found their voice, finished their book, launched their business, or just felt a little less alone — because they stumbled onto something I built. That’s the whole thing. That’s always been the whole thing.
A Few More Things
The things that don't fit neatly in a bio but make me, me.
Obsessed with Paris
I write romantic comedies set there, I run writing retreats there, and I would live there if I could convince my teenagers to move. I cannot.
Secret fiction author
As Lexi Haddock I write rom-coms full of witty banter, love triangles, and women figuring themselves out. It's the most fun I have at a keyboard.
The accidental professor
I teach Entrepreneurship at the University of South Carolina. My students are in their early twenties. I tell them everything I wish someone had told me.
Weekly podcast host
Alexa's Book Marketing & Publishing Chat goes out every week. Publishing strategy, author business tips, and honest conversations about what actually works.
Columbia, SC is home
Three teenagers, one dog, and a house that is never quiet. I wouldn't trade it.
© 2026 Alexa Bigwarfe · Columbia, SC